Women made up 40% of the group entering Tokyo Medical University in 2010, but the administrator said the school then began lowering their scores to keep that percentage under 30. Over 30% of applicants making it past the first stage of the school’s application process this year were women, but after the test, only 18% were admitted.

The administrator, who was talking about recruiting more doctors to work at the school’s hospital, said that “many female students who graduate end up leaving the actual medical practice to give birth and raise children. There was a silent understanding (to accept more male students) as one way to resolve the doctor shortage.” The guy described this quota as “a necessary evil” and said people in the school’s surgical department think “it takes three women to serve as one man.”

Tokyo Medical University apparently only made the mistake of not making public its alleged quota. If it had done that, it would’ve been perfectly legal.

This isn’t the first time the school’s gotten a bit of heat. Last month, its president and board of regents chair resigned after allegedly bribing an education official with his son’s admission for some grant money.

As for hidden quotas, remember that Harvard University is also in hot water, only with race, not gender. The school allegedly has subtracted points from Asian American students’ personality scores to admit fewer of them. That trial is set to take place in October.